Business Chief Europe Magazine February 2022 | Page 49

employees . It ’ s all about helping business leaders in sustainability to work together , learn from each other , raise their profiles and influence within their organisations , and take collective action . Its members are focused on outputs and actions that drive best practice and will collectively benefit not only the S30 but the business community as a whole .
Sustainability is about a lot more than ‘ just ’ climate change and decarbonisation . How is EY tackling issues like DE & I ? That ’ s true – there is far more to ESG than sustainability . EY has been on a DE & I journey for decades and we ’ re still on it . We work hard to cultivate a diverse and inclusive culture , where all our people can feel like they belong and are empowered to be themselves at work . We ’ ve always believed that setting the right tone and agenda from the top of the organisation is critical and that ’ s why , in 2020 , we formed our Global Social Equity Task Force to develop and prioritise cohesive global actions specifically addressing inequity and discrimination . The EY Global Executive , the senior-most
governing body , has also signed a Global Executive Diversity & Inclusion statement which is a commitment to hold ourselves accountable at the highest level . There ’ s lots more to say about this but hopefully this gives a flavour of how seriously we take DE & I at EY .
Do you think the general public , and business , have differing views on what sustainability means and what matters most to them , or are they aligned ? I think there ’ s been the beginning of convergence in priorities and goals on this agenda across all stakeholder groups . COP26 was a great example of multiple groups coming together for collective action on climate change , and I really believe everyone there shared many of the same common beliefs . There ’ s still a long way to go , and there will be differences to overcome , but I ’ m optimistic about the change I ’ m seeing and the impact of incoming generations on the private sector . When you look at a business like EY , its 312,000 people reflect the communities in which it operates around
businesschief . com 49